Brooder.



A. E. FORD.

' BROODER.

APPLICATION FILED-MAY 17, 1911.

1,029,537, I Patented June 11,1912.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

II E35- ALEX ETHMER FORD, OF DIVERNON, ILLINOIS.

BRO'ODER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed May 17, 1911.

Patented June 11, 1912.

Serial No. 627,769.

which the following is a specification, ref-.

erence being bad to the accompanying drawings.

This invention relates to improvements in brooders for chickens and poultry in general and has for its object to provide an eflicient arrangement for heating the brooder with a lamp, and without requiring coils for water or other liquid.

Another object of my invention is to have the parts easily accessible for inspection and repair.

A further object of my invention is to have the parts as far as possible readily removable but with means to lock them securely in place when in use.

A still further object of my invention is to provide an arrangement which will be conducive to highly sanitary conditions.

Other objects of my invention will become apparent as it is more fully set forth.

In my device I provide an arrangement by which the lamp or heating means can be installed within a sub-chamber of the main casing of the brooder. Communication is provided from the top of this subchamber, in order to permit the heat generated therein to flow therefrom over the upper portion of the casing, and thereby heatthe chamber in which the poultry or chickens are in.

By having the lamp within a chamber, that is itself inside the main casing or running room of the brooder, the arrangement serves to make use of the greater part of the heat of the lamp, that is, the heat given oft by radiation, inaddition to that of conduction, is made use of. At the end of my brooder, I provide an intermediate chamber, in order that the birds in passing through .the outer air may not have to suffer too great a change of temperature suddenly. In addition, by using windows of glass arranged as will be described later, inspection canbe made of the inside of the brooder at any time.

In the accompanying drawings, which illustrate by way of example an embodiment of my invention, Figure 1 represents a perspective view of a brooder embodying my invention; Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken along the line AA of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a sectional View taken along the line B-B of Fig. 1; Fig. 1 is an end elevation of Fig. 1, part-1y in section; Fig. 5 is a side elevation of the brooder; Fig. 6 is a detail of a removable ventilator; and Fig. 7 is a detail of the removable sub-window.

Similar reference characters refer to similar parts throughout the drawings.

In the drawings, 1 represents the side walls of the brooder. In one side of the brooder is an opening 2 which serves as a doorway for a lamp or heating chamber 3. In the top portion of this chamber is provided an opening 41 through which the heated air can escape to circulate in an upper chamber 5, this chamber extending over a part of the upper portion of the brooding running chamber. The air after it is circulated in this upper chamber passes through an opening 6, through a pipe 7, which passes through the main chamber of the brooder, and has an exhaust opening 8 from which the air can escape and disseminate against a baffle plate 9, which is attached to one of the walls 1, on the outside.

5' is a heat bafiiing plate which is so disposed over the chamber 5, that the heated air will not strike directly on the roof of the brooding room as it rises from the roof of chamber 5.

I prefer that my brooder be of a shape as shown in the drawings, and that it be provided with a glass window 10 at each end, which is held in position by means of hooks 11 and side pieces 12, these windows being disposed angularly in order to permit a ready inspection of the interior of the chambers 10 of the brooder that are underneath them.

13 are guideways fastened on the front and back portions of the brooder to hold and guide therein, the ventilator plates 14, which are removable therefrom, and the upper portion of each ventilating plate being provided with a plurality of holes in order to promote the ventilation of the brooder.

The chambers 10 are divided from the main running chamber 15 by hanging walls 16 having thereon a number of hooks 17 for supporting the frame of the sub-window 18. 19 is a locking device for holding this sub-window rigidly in position. The window 18 extends down and covers the greater portion of the space left between the walls 16 and the floor of the chambers. The remaining portion of the walls 16 has attached to it a suit-able screen 18; this screen being preferably constructed from some cloth ma terial serves to tend to keep the heat within the brooding chamber, and at the same time permit the chickens to go in and out beneath it without injury. The chambers 10 are provided with openings 20 which permit access to the outside air when the door 21 is opened. Over the doors 21 are provided shelves 22 for shedding rain and keeping it from the doors 21.

23 is a door for closing the doorway of the heating chamber 3, and is preferably 7 slipped and locked into position by means of a groove guide attachment 24.

In order that the heat from the heating chamber may be fully utilized, it is preferably constructed of sheet metal, and similarly with all the parts which are intended to conduct heat to the brooder, or are in contact with the heated air from the lamp or the heating chamber.

The operation of the device is as follows: A lamp or other heating medium is placed within the heating chamber 3, the door 23 is then slipped into its grooves 24: and securely locks the lamp within the chamber. As the heat is developed by the lamp it heats the atmospherewithin the chamber 3 and causes it to flow through the opening 4 to the chamber 5 which is partly over the brooding space to which it imparts its heat. As the chamber5 becomes heated it sends its heated atmosphere to the pipe 7 and therethrough it, to the opening 8, and from thence it escapes to the atmosphere. It will be noticed that the heating element being within the chamber most of the radiating heat is utilized within the inside of the brooder, as there is but little opportunity for it to be dissipated in the air without. The --air within the brooding chamber can not escape, because of the walls 16 which extend from the ceiling down close to the floor and thereby entrain the air within it. The screens through which the birds enter and reenter being so low down do not permit an appreciable amount of heated air to escape from the brooding chamber, the portion of the heated air that escapes by means of this doorway being directed into the chambers 10 and serves to warm them up. The chambers 10 being between the atmospheric temperature and the temperature of the brooding room will tend to be at an intermediate temperature which, when the doors 21 are unlocked,

will assist in preventing the birds from catching cold in passing from the brooder to the outside air, as the change of temperature will be gradual. It will be noticed that the ventilator 14 can be removed by simply raising it out of its guideways 13. The window frame 10 can be easily removed by raising them up slightly after unhooking their fasteners. The sub-window can be easily unhooked and removed by unlocking its device 19,.which then permits the frame 18 to be raised ofi its hooks and taken out of the brooder. After the windows are removed it is a comparatively easy matter to inspect or clean out the interior of the brooder and also to clean the parts that have been removed.

The operation of the windows and venti lators referred to in the claim, can be readily appreciated by referring to Fig. 5. Here it will be noted that the raising of thewindow frame will cause the edge of the same to extend over the ventilator 14, so that as the latter is raised, it will hold the window up. The resilient pressure of the guides on the reflector 1 1 is sufficient to hold'the ventilator in practically any position that it is placed in, in the same. The raising of the ventilator, and also the window provides an arrangement for the egress of hot air, from the brooder, and the ingress of cold air thereto; the cold air being permitted to flow underneath the ventilators into the chainbers.

There are many advantages of my apparatus, the principal one of which is that it provides a brooder which can be utilized for a great number of birds. It permits also the brooder to be divided into a number of sections, and the removal of its parts perthe main brooding chamber, it is accessible from the outside, so that its use does not interfere with the birds in any way. I anticipate that there may be many modifications, in the construction of my invention, without departing from the principles thereof, so that I do not wishrto limit myself in any .mits it to be kept in a highly sanitary conway, except that necessitated by the prior ventilated by raising the windows as much as is desirable should the perforated vent-ilator not prove suflicient on occasions.

Having thus described my invention, 1 claim 2- In a brooder, the combination of a plurality of guides, ventilators frictionally held in said guides, and windows adapted to be held upwardly by said ventilators, and

means for holding said windows so that the 10 same will readily move and extend over said ventilators, when raised.

In testimony whereof I hereunto aflix my signature in the presence of two witnesses. ALEX ETHMER FORD. Witnesses:

CLARENCE E. DAVIS, JAMES P. TISI-IEY.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of latents, Washington, D. G. 

